I'm no expert on Putin but I can't process the narrative about him in this piece: > And then Konchalovsky said that Putin initially thought like a Westerner .

I'm no expert on Putin but I can't process the narrative about him in this piece: > And then Konchalovsky said that Putin initially thought like a Westerner ... but then he learned and adapted to exploit the Russians? To my understanding he was a trained KBG-ist—the most nihilistic kind of person in all of nihilistic Russia—and believes chiefly in making money. To suggest that Putin has ever held beliefs, the kind people in the West might have, rings very naive. "Бабки надо делать" he is quoted saying as a motto in the early 90s in the movie "Who is Mr. Putin?" That's his only truth, not unlike, generally, the people he rules.